John j



J. J. ALTHOUSE.

PLASTERING SURFACE.

Patented Jan.7, 1862.

fit re 7:20 1:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. ALTHAUSE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PLASTERING-SURFACE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 34,099, dated January 7, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. ALTHAUsn, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Plastering-Surface to be Used in Connection with Columns, Supports, or Piers of Metal, and that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of this plastering surface, and Fig. 2 is a perspective of piers or columns of a building showing the manner in which the surface is to be used.

In our large cities the use of cast iron for architectural purposes has become common and it is employed in the piers or columns of the lower floors of stores and warehouses perhaps more extensively than in any other locality. These piers are usually hollow columns, ornamented on the sides exposed to the weather, so as to produce some architectural effects, and plain on the side or sides which make part of the Walls of the apartment which the piers aid in inclosing. These apartments or stores are usually plastered or have what are commonly termed hard finished walls, and it is desirable that the inner sides of the piers should correspond in finish with the other parts of the walls. The inner sides of the piers are therefore often partially cased with furring, to which laths are nailed, so that the surface may be plastered. In other cases the iron surface is wholly covered with a wainscoting or ceiling of planks, and sometimes the iron surface is merely painted. Both the furring and the wainscoting are objectionable on account of the expense and their tendency when on fire to warp and often break the columns, and when the surface is merely painted the finish is not good. I have in view of these objections devised a simple and effectual way of overcoming the difficulty by making the inner surface of the piers a plastering surface, or a surface to which plaster may be applied and to which it will adhere, this ployed successfully is as follows, viz: I pierce that surface of the pattern which corresponds with the inner surface of the pier to be plastered with a number of small holes and in these insert loosely either wrought or cut nails, or smaller pieces of wire, or cones or pyramids of cast iron, so that they shall project from the surface. When nails are used they should be put in point first, when wire is employed the axis of the wire should be oblique to or make an oblique angle with the surface, and all the nails or pieces of cast iron should project from the surface of the pattern as far as may be necessary to insure a lock for the plaster. Vhen the pattern is prepared it is to be laid face upward in the flask and molded upon in any proper way, and when the pattern is drawn the nails, wires, or pieces of cast iron are to be left sticking in the sand. When the iron is poured in it will surround the nails, etc., and when cold and removed from the sand the surface presented will be similar to that shown in the drawings. Now a surface of this same kind, that is to say of such irregularity as to retain plastering by a lock in the usual manner, may be produced in many other ways during the operation of casting and the surface will be substantially the same as that above described. For instance, the surface may be produced by the proper use of cones in ways well known to molders or by making the pattern with teeth projecting from it, all at the same oblique angle and all parallel to each other, and then withdrawing the pattern from the sand in lines coincident with those of the axes of the teeth. The surfaces thus produced are to be plastered after they are placed in position, and the finish obtained by using them will be equal to that now secured by the use of furring, will be cheaper, more durable, save more room, and will protect instead of endangering the piers in case of fire.

Having thus described my invention, I claim A metallic plastering surface, substan tially such as described, for piers, columns, etc., produced during and by the operation of casting, substantially in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the city of New York on this 18th day of March, A. D. 1859.

J. J. ALTI-IAUS'E.

In presence of N. E. NoRTHnN, B. ALTHAUSE. 

